KMI Support Center

My hardware has a USB port, do I still need the MIDI Expander?

Most hardware devices with a USB port only accept data when that port is connected to a computer, and it's generally not used to transmit MIDI data (though some do), so our controllers will not work if you just connect the controller and hardware together with a USB cable. You will need our MIDI Expander and your hardware will need to have a MIDI Input port on it.

If your hardware's USB port does accept MIDI messages (this is different for every device) then you could potentially get away with not using an Expander — though a computer will be necessary. If you connect your hardware device and KMI controller to a computer via USB cables, you could program the controller to output its MIDI to your connected hardware device. The computer will act as the middle-man in this situation.